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Breach of statutory duty; emergency service; employer’s liability ‘Although the fire services’ defence was atypically ambitious, Irwin J’s analysis of the duties of emergency service employers is of considerable interest.’ These claims arose out of a mass explosion that occurred at a fireworks factory at Marlie Farm in East Sussex on 3 December 2006. Geoffrey …
Continue reading "Case Report: Wembride Claimants v Winter [2013] EWHC 2331"
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Dr Leigh A Neal and Dr Jon Valentine examine the important changes in psychiatric diagnosis ‘The reliability of determining that a somatic symptom is medically unexplained is limited.’ The diagnosis and treatment of medically unexplained pain is complicated by a plethora of diagnoses and differences in approach between psychiatrists and specialists in pain management. The …
Continue reading "DSM-5: Medically unexplained chronic pain in personal injury litigation"
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Harry Lambert looks at the powers and duties of civil courts in sexual abuse cases when an unrepresented defendant wishes to cross-examine the complainant in person ‘Victims frequently have rich psychiatric histories and brittle vulnerabilities. Equally often they will be prone, if not to permanent harm, at least to relapse under the stress of being …
Continue reading "Cross-Examination: The undesired desirable solution"
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Paul Jones reviews a recent case that considers recoverability of fees ‘The defendant did not challenge the principle that the reasonable fees of a medical agency are recoverable, but it did submit that the paying party and the court could not ascertain whether those fees were in fact reasonable.’ With the growth in personal injury …
Continue reading "Costs: Medical agency fees under the spotlight"
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Christine Bunting and Huw Ponting explain the need for a tailored approach ‘Deputyship costs can amount to many hundreds of thousands of pounds in the case of a young person with a good life expectancy, so they will form an important part of the schedule of loss.’The introduction of the Mental Capacity Act 2005 (MCA) …
Continue reading "Mental Capacity Act 2005: The real cost of professional deputyships"
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Ex turpi causa; joint enterprise; recovery of damages ‘Where it can be said that the claimant’s cause of action arises in course of their participation in, or furtherance of a criminal activity, the claimant is prohibited from recovering damages due to sound policy reasons.’ In the case of David Joyce, the Court of Appeal recently …
Continue reading "Case Report: Joyce v O’Brien & anor [2013] EWCA Civ 546"
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Robert Weir QC discuss the recent decision of the Supreme Court in Smith v Ministry Of Defence ‘It is one thing to say that higher level decisions may fall outwith article 2 and another to translate that general guidance into a determination on the facts of a particular case as to whether the claim made …
Continue reading "Human Rights Act: Claims can proceed for soldiers’ deaths in Iraq"
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Mark Fowles considers the status of The Code of Practice for Highway Maintenance following the recent Court of Appeal decision of TR v Devon County Council ‘Hughes LJ emphasised that the importance of the Code of Practice for Highway Maintenance should not be overrated. It had no statutory basis and was no more than evidence …
Continue reading "Highway Claims: Establishing a section 58 defence"
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Justin Valentine highlights the issues and gives practical advice ‘Costs budgets must provide a detailed breakdown for each stage of the case, identifying costs and disbursements already incurred and providing estimates of future costs with details of assumptions on which the estimates are based.’ As a parallel development to the intended introduction of fixed costs …
Continue reading "Costs Budgeting: An overview and commentary"
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Ian Gascoigne discusses the potential pitfalls ‘An expert retained in any contentious proceedings must not enter into any arrangement that could compromise his impartiality, nor make a payment to him dependent on the outcome of the case.’ Whenever a revision occurs in the court rules, the role of the expert witness becomes a more difficult …
Continue reading "Civil Procedure Rules: Expert witnesses and damages-based agreements – do they mix?"
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